[Metacognitive Therapy in the Treatment of Depression.]

Metacognitive Therapy (MCT) developed by A. Wells is one of the new developments of Behavior Therapy. It assumes that not the content of cognition is important for the treatment of psychological disorders. Instead of this from a metacognitive perspective persistent and unflexible patterns of thinking and focusing attention and therewith associated dysfunctional coping behaviors play a crucial role for their development and maintenance. These patterns are called Cog-nitive Attentional Syndrome (CAS). In depres-sion the CAS consists of excessive rumination and worry, focusing attention on potential danger (threat monitoring) and maladaptive coping strategies, e. g. avoidance of social contact or substance abuse. The reason for the use of these strategies is the existence of positive metacognitions which highlight its benefit for the patient (e. g. "Rumination helps me to find a solution for my problems!"). Over time however negative metacognitive beliefs develop about the uncontrollability and danger of these processes (e. g., "Rumination is uncontrollable!"). They account for the continued use of these strategies and of further coping behaviors that backfire. The aim of MCT is to improve the metacognitive awareness of the patients and to regain flexible control over processes of thinking and focusing attention. The CAS is reduced, the underlying metacognitive beliefs are changed and alternative plans of cognitive processing are generated. The existing data suggest that regarding treatment outcome MCT is possibly superior to Cognitive Behavior Therapy.